Around three months have already passed since Sony officially announced its newest one and only high-end Android tablet – the Xperia Tablet Z. That said, today it’s finally gone up for pre-order in the US of A if you use Sony’s own official online store.

The shipping date, though, is almost another month off. The Xperia Tablet Z is said to start shipping on May 24, which would be around four months after the initial announcement. Not a good record for Sony, that one.

The Xperia Tablet Z can be yours for $599.99. This nets you a Wi-Fi-only tablet with 32 GB of storage space, and you’ll also get a free charging cradle (depicted above) if you pre-order. The cradle is apparently a $44.99 value.

This tablet’s price is identical to what you need to pay for a Wi-Fi-only iPad with the same amount of storage, so Sony is clearly positioning itself at the high-end of the Android tablet space. Which probably means it won’t be selling a lot of these. Still, if you like your tablet to be water and dust resistant, there’s probably no better option out there right now.